JOHN MACRAE was born at Achadh-nan-gart, Kintail (though his son-in-law, the Rev. D. Macmaster, gives Ardelve, Lochalsh) in 1794. He was one of a family of twelve. His father was a farmer, and at one time occupied a good position, but owing to reverses he came to be in straitened circumstances. John received a good education in the ordinary branches, as well as in Latin and Greek, before the state of his father’s affairs interfered with his school career. From Lochalsh the family removed to Morvich, at the north end of Loch-Duich, in Kintail, where his father died. Soon after his death, John and one of his brothers rented a sheep farm called Immir, at the south end of Lochcarron. From this place he went to the south side of Loch-Duich, where he shared with another friend the holding of Mam Ratagan. The Rev. N. Nicolson, his biographer, relates that it was when at this place that words used in asking a blessing at food by Mr Finlay Munro, that highly-honoured lay missionary, made a deep impression on Macrae’s mind. The special means, however, according to the Rev. D. Macmaster, in his biographical sketch in the “Disruption Worthies of the Highlands,” was a sermon preached by Dr Macdonald, Ferintosh, in the open air at Lochcarron, from the words in Solomon’s Song, iii. 11-“Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.” “His distress of mind,” says Mr Macmaster, “was for a time extreme, unfitting him for the ordinary duties of life. It would not be easy at that time to meet a more powerful man anywhere; but he has been known to tell that he had been so weakened by soul distress, as that when his foot struck against a clod or stone on the hill-side, he fell helplessly to the ground. Many in the district thought he must have lost his reason, and uttered lamentations over so fine a young man being lost to his family and friends.” It was during a Communion season at Ferintosh, in the closing address by Dr Angus Mackintosh, Tain, on Sabbath evening, that the deliverance came. He now set to study, and in a short time he was able to take charge of a public school at Arnisdale, Glenelg. It was while here that a striking work of grace began through his exhortations being owned of the Holy Spirit. He now turned his thoughts to the ministry, and after the preliminary Arts studies, he studied theology at Edinburgh. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Chanonry, 7th September 1830. Thereafter he acted for a few years as assistant to the Rev. James Russel, Gairloch. On the Rev. Finlay Cook going to Inverness in 1833, Mr Macrae was ordained at Ness, Lewis. His ministry extended over six years, and his labours were abundantly blessed. Mr Macrae was at the zenith of his power about this date, and under his rugged and powerful eloquence, his hearers were held spell-bound as they listened to the dreadful threatenings of Sinai, followed by the gracious tidings poured forth from a deeply touched heart and from lips that had been touched with a live coal from off the altar. In 1839 he was translated to Knockbain, and in his immediate neighbourhood he had Dr Macdonald, Ferintosh, and Mr Stewart, Cromarty, two of the outstanding preachers of the Highlands. It was while in Knockbain that he became known by the name, “MacRath Mor” (Big Macrae, the reference being to his stature), by which he is known throughout the Highlands. During his ministry in Knockbain the great controversy which ended in the Disruption was raging, and Mr Macrae threw himself into it with all his Celtic fervour and strong personality. He was selected by Dr Chalmers as a deputy to visit the Highlands and Islands to explain the great issues at stake. He was a formidable antagonist, physically and mentally, as not a few knew to their cost in the first sense, and as some “moderate” ministers also knew to their cost in the latter sense. On one of his deputation rounds, when accompanied by the Rev. James Macdonald, Urray, who was the first speaker, the parish minister interrupted Mr Macdonald by saying, “You need not be so vain, James, telling us the cause of the Disruption. Well do I remember when I used to teach you in your father’s house.” “Sit down, James,” whispered Macrae, “and let me get up.” He was no sooner on his feet than the “moderate” minister: rejoicing in his onslaught on Mr Macdonald, determined to silence Mr Macrae by shouting out-“I knew you right well, too, when you used to be hunting foxes in these wilds above us.” “Yes,” replied Macrae, with a lightning thrust, “and it appears I did not get them all.” It was one of those clever retorts whose point is all the more felt because the mind that shot them leaves the victim to drive them home himself.
In 1849, Mr Macrae was translated to the Gaelic Church, Greenock, where he laboured until 1857, when, owing to failing health, he was induced to accept a call from Lochs, Lewis. The pain in parting with Mr Macrae in 1849 was keenly felt by many of his people at Knockbain. Many had received blessing under his preaching, and they were tenderly attached to their pastor. His labours in Greenock were also greatly blessed, and when he left there for the Lewis, the parting was no less keenly felt.
In 1859 his beloved wife was removed by death, and he felt her loss keenly, for “through her piety and prudence and sympathy [she had been] a never-failing help to him.” She died repeating the beautiful words-“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”
His strength was not sufficient for the large parish of Lochs, and in 1866 he accepted a call to Carloway. In 1871, in the midst of growing infirmities, he resigned his charge, generously declining to retain the retiring allowance to which he was entitled. But though no longer minister of a congregation, he preached regularly while strength remained. He entered on his everlasting rest, after ten days of suffering, on 9th October 1876.
A word or two must be said on Mr Macrae’s attitude to the Union question in the Free Church. Mr Macrae sided with the movement, and this undoubtedly cooled the attachment of some of his best friends to him.
A word also must now be said about Mr Macrae as a preacher. He was undoubtedly one of the most powerful preachers of the Northern Highlands. His labours were greatly owned of God. He knew the theology of the heart well, and being a diligent student, he delighted in feeding on the rich, strong, scriptural theology of the great Puritan divines, especially that giant among them, Dr Owen. Mr Macmaster has given the following pen-picture of him:-“His appearance as he presented himself before a congregation at once arrested attention; it suggested to the hearers the thought that this was a messenger sent from God. Many in almost all parts of the world will remember services conducted by him, especially on Communion Sabbaths, when he appeared, with his countenance radiant, as one who had come down from the Mount of Communion; and how, by the time he had read the Psalm and engaged in prayer, the congregation often consisting of many thousands, was awed into eager attention, and throughout an expression of delight appeared on the faces of God’s people, while the most careless were solemnized, often deeply moved. A few years before Mr Macrae’s death, an aged Christian, after hearing him preach, said-I have to-day shed tears under a sermon, what I had not done since last I heard Mr Macrae twenty years ago. There are many Christian people and ministers of the gospel who will acknowledge that they owe more to his preaching than to all the other means of instruction they ever enjoyed, and who do not expect that the blank caused by his death will ever be made up for them in this world. He bestowed great pains on his pulpit preparation, although he did not commit to writing but the barest outline of his sermons.” Mr Macrae was endowed with a powerful and lively imagination, which, while keeping within the bounds of sobriety, enabled him to make use of illustrations from natural phenomena that helped to elucidate and enforce spiritual truths. The Rev. Nicol Nicolson, in his “An t-Urramach Iain Mac-Rath (Mac-Rath Mor) a bha ann an Leodhas” (1894)-an English edition of which appeared in 1895, under the title. “The Reverend John Macrae (Mac-Rath Mor-Big Macrae) of Knockbain, Greenock and Lewis, has gathered together notes of some of his sermons and sayings, which are deeply interesting, but which, from their fragmentary character, can give but a very faint idea of the discourses as they were poured from eloquent lips and a heart set on fire by the tremendous weight of the truths he was declaring. In addition to Mr Nicolson’s booklet, there may be mentioned the biographical sketch in the “Disruption Worthies of the Highlands,” from the pen of his son-in-law, the Rev. D. Macmaster, and from which we have given a few quotations.
Self-love, and love of the saints, are like two buckets; proportionally unto the rising of the one, the other goeth down. Look unto what degree soever we arrive in self-love; whatever else we do, and whatever our works may be, to the same proportion do we sink in Christian love.-Brooks.